Farm Rumblings Week 2: One swing away from perfection in Visalia

By Vince Marotta | April 17, 2017 at 8:42 amUPDATED: April 17, 2017 at 11:31 am

Another week is in the books in the minor league baseball season, and for the most part, the affiliates of the Arizona Diamondbacks are doing a lot of winning.

The Reno Aces, Jackson Generals, Visalia Rawhide and Kane County Cougars combined to go 15-10 last week and the pitching staff of one club nearly provided some history.

Here’s a quick look at some of the happenings in the D-backs’ farm system.

Perfection just missed

The Visalia pitching staff has been good so far in 2017, logging a collective ERA of 3.70 in 90 innings — the fifth-best mark in the California League.

On Tuesday, they were nearly unhittable. The combination of starter Joel Payamps and relievers Kirby Bellow and Cameron Gann completely shut down the Lake Elsinore Storm for nine innings. Twenty-seven batters up, 27 batters down. The problem was, the Rawhide couldn’t push across a run themselves, so the game went to extra innings.

Finally, in the 10th inning, catcher Matt Jones smacked a two-run homer off of Lake Elsinore’s Colby Blueberg. Visalia called on right-hander Bud Jeter to close out an even more rare 10-inning perfect game. Jeter struck out Michael Gettys to lead off the inning, but then Chris Baker tripled to right to break up the no-hitter and perfect game. Jeter would retire the next two batters to save the game and the shutout.

Wilson batted .409 (9-for-22) with three home runs and eight RBI for the Cougars, who went 3-3 on the week and lead the Western Division with a 7-3 mark. He is third in the Midwest League with a .405 batting average, he ranks second in home runs (4) and leads the circuit with 12 RBI.

Saturday, Wilson homered twice, drove in six runs, scored three runs and stole a base in the Cougars’ 8-4 win over Quad Cities.

Wilson, 20, also drew four walks and continues to show good plate discipline — he’s drawn eight walks in his first 10 games this year and has earned 108 free passes in 175 minor league games.